On mornings like this one my body is not stirred from slumber by an incessant buzzing by my bed. On mornings like this one it is instead sweetly wooed awake, even before the buzz, by the blushed pink that kisses the dark and flushes my windows, and beckons me from beneath my warm covers to something yet even more enticing: the rosey scape of sunrise sparked by love. On mornings like this one, especially, I find myself in awe of how all creation speaks to the truth that hope and joy ignite when light breaks out of darkness.

And so I celebrate all the more on this day. On this first day of Advent. On this day of the Christian new year. This day of light coming–preparing to be birthed–into our beloved world in a whole, new wondrous way.